


Welcome to the Freak Show

by ChrissiHR



Series: It's the Great Countdown, Darcy Lewis [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, Thor - All Media Types
Genre: 31 Days Of Halloween, Circus Performer Clint Barton, F/M, Found Family, October 2, People Are Strange, Promptober, Romance, Suspense, The Doors - Freeform, Wordcount: 100-1.000, Wordcount: 100-2.000, Wordcount: 100-500, Wordcount: Under 10.000, song prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 06:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12248769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrissiHR/pseuds/ChrissiHR
Summary: Night 2 ...in which the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain, thrilled her—filled her with fantastic terrors never felt before...





	Welcome to the Freak Show

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Queenspuppet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenspuppet/gifts).



> Night 2 prompt: Darcy x Clint, _People Are Strange_ by The Doors (with a side of _To The Shock of Miss Louise_ by Thomas Newman, also from The Lost Boys soundtrack)
> 
> Beta'd by phoenix_173
> 
> mew /myo͞o/ (plural noun: mews)  
>  _a cage or building for trained hawks_

“Where are you? I can’t see anything.”

“Here, babe.”

A hand grasped Darcy’s, pulling her around the corner.

“Don’t let go.”

She hung on for dear life, tripped and stumbled, feeling her way with the toes of her boots. The enclosed space was humid and musty, pitch black in every direction but one, with only a flicker of pale orange light at the end of a canvas corridor pressing close on either side. Ahead, faint silhouettes bobbed in and out of focus as the two of them clung to the shadows, moving ever forward in the dark. Light flashed like a lightning strike and Darcy startled with a shriek, stumbling at the sight of her own distorted image in one of the funhouse mirrors hidden among the draped canvas folds along the gallery.

“This is so creepy,” she whispered, “in the best way,” she qualified with a gentle pat, clutching her date’s arm and straining to catch a quiet chant under the ominous and haunting music filling the low passageway. A breath above a whisper, she caught a few familiar lines from The Raven, coloring the tone of ambient music a shade darker and more sinister. She shivered, reveling in the delicious sensation of a scare coming on.

The lightning-mirror startle caught her out twice more before they reached the end of the scare gauntlet, opening into a wide, octagonal amphitheater with a high ceiling. Broad stripes of red and black and purple fanned out overhead in a starburst from the top of the tent.

A woman in a top hat draped in her burlesque best maroon satin and black feathers stepped onto the stage, hitting her mark as the spotlights zeroed in, framing her in bright light—a stark contrast to the dark it pushed to the corners of the room.

“ **_Ladies... and... gentlemen_ ** **...** ” her introduction reverberated through the rows of benches packed with guests of all ages, carrying to the farthest reaches of the theater (Darcy shivered with anticipation), “welcome to The Mews, the most unsettling sideshow on earth…” She gestured to the edge of the stage and, as she turned with a flourish, produced an enormous raven out of thin air. It lifted its wings, displaying its stark black plumage before hopping up to claim its perch on the barker’s shoulder. “Because, as they say, birds of a feather flock together…”

A warm hand closed over Darcy’s when the barker introduced the performer known as Early Bird and she took center stage next, boots clicking heel-toe towards a complicated platform before an oversized bullseye.

“I thought this was a sideshow,” Darcy whispered, then gasped as a hulking beast of a man behind the audience introduced himself as Coop and tossed a giant fucking knife at Early Bird.

Who caught it.

“Holy shit.”

“She never misses.” Clint smiled and brought Darcy’s clammy hand to his lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. “Ready to meet the rest of the family, babe?”


End file.
